Straight Flushed (Hot Pursuit #1)(3)
It took forever until we reached the car. When we finally arrived, he put me on my feet and opened the door to one of B&B’s black Range Rovers. I slid into the warm passenger seat. He hadn’t been looking for me too long. The chilled air from outside hadn’t completely invaded the interior of the car yet; it was still comfortably warm. When Vance got behind the steering wheel, he turned the engine over and slowly pulled out onto the street. Finally, I could relax. I slumped back into my seat, as much as my aching ribs would allow, and shut my eyes.
“You know where it is, right?” I said, without lifting my head.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Where’s the flash drive anyway?”
“In my bra.”
He laughed. “Only you would put information of national importance in your bra.”
“You should know as well as anyone that it’s not an easy place to get into.” I blindly waved my hand over my chest.
“Yeah,” he said through a sigh, “I know. Hey, you want me to turn some music on, or do you want it quiet?”
I normally loved the pleasant distraction of music as background noise but I wanted to hear nothing more than the rain slapping the windshield. “Quiet, please,” I said. My voice had gotten raspy as I fought sleep.
As we pulled onto the first main road outside the hospital, I opened my eyes. Vance was checking the rear view mirrors.
“Everything all right?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so. Don’t worry. Get some rest. We should be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay,” I said and drifted off.
. . .
Startled, I awoke and was thrust forward, the seat belt giving a mighty yank across my neck and chest.
“What the fu—” I said, pausing in the middle of the word as an unexpected ripple of pain tore through my body.
“Wake up! We got company,” Vance said.
I perked up and glanced over my left shoulder, taking a moment to briefly rub sleep from my vision and to absorb the pain. A large SUV was on our bumper and flashing its lights.
“Did we just get hit?” I asked.
“Damn right we did. If they screw up this car, I’m going to rearrange some faces. Two cars in two weeks, Cavanaugh will never let me hear the end of it.”
“How in the hell did they find us?”
“Maybe they put something on your phone too. They want that stick in your bra. Bad. But they’re not going to get it. Hold on.”
He jerked the wheel to the right, and we started spinning. Vance was a tactical driving expert, so if we were spinning, he meant for us to be spinning. It didn’t make it any less terrifying, however.
The raindrops on the windshield were illuminated by the other car’s headlights as we continued through our swirling vortex of blurry lights. Millions of them danced in my eyes, blinding me. I clutched the side of the door as the tires screeched and slid to a stop. Thank God my stomach was empty otherwise it would have lost its contents right then and there.
The second moment of impact was more jarring than the first. Crunching metal and the tinkling of glass on the asphalt rang in my ears. Dazed, I looked over and saw blood dripping from above Vance’s eye onto his shirt.
“Vance, your eye,” I said.
He wiped the side of his face with his sleeve. “I don’t feel it,” he said then got out of the car and grabbed his gun.
“Wait! No!” I shouted. “Don’t go!”
I reached for him, but he was already gone.
Two
Two weeks ago…
Vance and I were finishing our shift with Avery Quinn, one of the Vice Presidents of the National Bank Corporation. He ran the oil and energy division. He was one of three top executives who held access to the bank’s most critical information. With the stroke of a few keys, millions of dollars could disappear and highly classified information could get into the wrong hands in seconds. The NBC hired us to protect the executives and escort them anywhere they needed to go, guaranteeing their safety at all times.
Being on Avery’s rotation was the most enjoyable of the three individuals. Last week we’d been on duty for one of the other execs, and his personality was flat, dull and always deathly serious. Dealing with Avery was easy.
His mansion was in the ritziest, most exclusive neighborhood in the city. We’d attended a banquet with him and were doing our final security sweep of his residence before calling it a night. I’d finished doing the walk through of the upper level and had left Avery upstairs to change out of his tuxedo then I proceeded to the lower level while Vance walked the outer perimeter.
Avery’s kitchen was extravagant. From the stainless steel six burner Viking range to the dark stained cabinets, everything was of the highest quality. I walked past the island and ran my hand over the cold marble surface trying to see if I could touch the tiny flecks of diamonds nestled deep within the sea of ebony. My high-heeled boots clanked against the walnut floors as I walked into the hallway toward a wall of pictures ahead.
I stood, briefly admiring the glimpses into Avery’s life. There were quite a few pictures of his late wife, who’d passed before I met him. Milly, I thought her name was. She had auburn hair and striking green eyes. She was the quintessential Irish beauty. There were also some pictures of his grown children and his grandchildren. He’d had three children and each one had given him two grandchildren, three girls and three boys. I smiled at all six gathered in one picture each toting an Easter basket loaded with plastic eggs and wearing big, sweet smiles.